International Relations Degrees in Africa

An incredible experience to learn about arts and cultural management while being immersed in many cultural experiences. What other program allows you to compare experiences from so many different perspectives? A truly unique offering!

Many graduate and undergraduate programs had trouble adjusting to international education during the pandemic. This program definitely falls into that category but they did an incredible job making sure we got the most out of the experience by providing alternatives for us to explore. We spent our first semester (Fall 2020) completely online with the hopes that we could be in the classroom together in the spring. The world started to open up for us in January so many of us quickly applied for our visas and quarantined in Montréal so that we could all meet in person at HEC Montréal. Now, we had no idea if we could visit any of the other locations so we did our best to be present there in Canada and have hope that we would be able to (at the very least) travel to Milano. Most of us applied for our Italian visas and found out just days before our flight that we would be studying in the classroom at SDA Bocconi. It was such an extra special experience joining the Bocconi MAMA group for lectures, group projects, consultations, and best of all, their Grand Tour of southern Italy. This final trip that we took was a replacement for our cohort that missed visiting the three other countries we were meant to visit (Colombia, India, China) and while it wasn't an equal trade in terms of international experiential learning, we had a wonderful time and experienced places and organizations I wouldn't have ever been able to visit on my own. Bocconi was an incredible host and I remain very grateful for these people and these adventures! With all of that being said, I will like to say that while I understand the difficulty of navigating ever-changing international safety protocols, I know that many of us craved better communication from our administrators. Being left "in the dark" created some unnecessary stress to our day to day decision making in this program, and I maintain the opinion that transparency is key to running a successful program of study. I additionally understand that many of our professors and lecturers were also navigating their jobs in the arts field during those unprecedented times, and many of them were successful in balancing their day to day lives as well as being present for us and our learning. But there were a couple of professors that truly left us stranded with questions and curiosities left unanswered. These things did not ruin the experience for me, they were simply a disappointing aspect of the program that I hope will continuously evolve for their betterment. I always felt as though I could speak up and give feedback that would be heard by the directors and administrators, I felt very respected for my opinions and my voice and that is the reason why I am able to leave this overall positive review. Nothing about our Masters studies was ideal, all of us had to be flexible and optimistic about the future, but we made it happen and we supported one another! I made lifelong friendships along the way and memories that will always be completely unique to us. I'm very grateful I took this risk and spent my time during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic getting my Masters in International Arts Management. I miss each of the people pictured here every single day and hope we may all be able to reunite in the near future!